All Blending Together

Kristen625

So H and I have been casually looking at houses for several months now. We own our own business, and we found the perfect house in Nov 2014. Only problem is, we have been hiding our profits the last few years, so on paper we look beyond dirt poor. Thankfully we talked the mortgage guy at the bank in Oct who told us what we need to do in the 2014 tax year in order to show profit so we could get pre-approved. Well during the time we saw the house, and this new year, that house sold. We weren't surprised as it was move-in ready and a GREAT price for everything. Now we are really seriously looking since January (we should have our pre-approval in about two weeks) and we have already seen 13 houses and now they are starting to blend together a bit. I look at photos online and I'm wondering if we have already seen it, or I ask myself if it is going to be just like one we saw previously. Our Realtor has been wonderful and is really understanding about what we want and are looking for, but its starting to become really frustrating! H and I are agreement on everything so far. We really are just sort of feeling lost I suppose. I think we are really comparing that house to all the rest in our brains every time we walk into a house. 

On the bright side, we did really like a house today that we are really considering. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing and how you dealt with it. 

OtterJ

We kept a notebook.  The first few pages were used as a "master list" or basically a table of contents for the notebook.  We listed every house that we saw online that met our initial criteria, and that we liked.  After the master list, each house had its own page in the notebook. 

At the top of the page we listed the address, and then once we viewed the house in person, we made comments on a set list of items that we were concerned about - square footage, price, number & size of bedrooms, Hall closets, condition of roof, etc.  We made notes of anything special about the house, or something that we particularly liked or disliked, and made floor plan sketches if we felt it had an unusual layout.  I made all of the notes about each house that we saw while we were in the car, driving to the next house, so it wasn't a very big task. 

Seeing the pros and cons of each house, made immediately while our memories were fresh, really helped us eliminate houses that didn't make the cut, and helped us feel confident about houses that we were ready to make an offer on.  If we had a fuzzy memory about one house or another, the notebook was a good way to refresh our memory. 

lovemesomemonster

I agree with the post above. For both houses we printed all of the listings and kept notes as we walked through. i also took pictures of things we found unusual or were photographed to look different in the listing so I could remember. The key to keeping it all straight was we would come home every day after looking, sit down and add to all of the notes I took while we were looking and make sure we captured every pro and con. Then if there was one thing that made either of us say "no way" to a house we immediately drew a line through it but kept the listing and wrote down what the deal breaker was. that way we remembered that we looked at it and what the issue was that made us not pick it. 

Kristen625

Both are great tips! We tried bring a notebook with us a few times, but we never really wrote anything in it. I think when we go look again I'll be more diligent about doing that.

After talking last night, H and I MAY have decided that we want one of the houses we saw yesterday. We keep talking about it and we both went over the pros and cons of the house and it has way more pros and very few cons. So we shall see!!

feedthefelines

We kept all of the printed listings and made nicknames for a lot of the houses that met most of our criteria (this helped a lot!). We also bookmarked the homes we liked so we could scroll though them all quickly online. 

BlueBirdMB

I'm sorry... you're "hiding your profits"?  That statement sounds like you are doing something illegal to me.  The IRS tends to catch on...  It's one thing for your business entity to not have "made a profit", but another for you personally to have not made money.  How have you managed this???  You personally do not declare your full income?!

I'm self employed and when we got a mortgage, they took 3 years worth of my personal income and averaged them to see what I qualified for.  They did this at the three mortgage brokers we looked into.  It's my understanding this is normal policy.  If you made $0 (or something very small) for two out of the three years, your average will be quite low.

short+sassy

feedthefelines said:

We kept all of the printed listings and made nicknames for a lot of the houses that met most of our criteria (this helped a lot!). We also bookmarked the homes we liked so we could scroll though them all quickly online. 

You brought back a fun memory .  When we were looking, my DH and I didn't specifically look to give houses nicknames...but sometimes it just happened.

The nickname that stuck the most was "The Crazy Tile House".  This house had different varieties of mosaic tiles EVERYWHERE.  The porch, the backyard...different mosaic patterns for different parts of the backyard, even some of the interior rooms had mosaic tile flooring.

Complete coincidence, over a year later, we ended up buying a different house but on the same street as the "Crazy Tile House", lol.

audubonbride2013

Kristen625 said:

So H and I have been casually looking at houses for several months now. We own our own business, and we found the perfect house in Nov 2014. Only problem is, we have been hiding our profits the last few years, so on paper we look beyond dirt poor. Thankfully we talked the mortgage guy at the bank in Oct who told us what we need to do in the 2014 tax year in order to show profit so we could get pre-approved. Well during the time we saw the house, and this new year, that house sold. We weren't surprised as it was move-in ready and a GREAT price for everything. Now we are really seriously looking since January (we should have our pre-approval in about two weeks) and we have already seen 13 houses and now they are starting to blend together a bit. I look at photos online and I'm wondering if we have already seen it, or I ask myself if it is going to be just like one we saw previously. Our Realtor has been wonderful and is really understanding about what we want and are looking for, but its starting to become really frustrating! H and I are agreement on everything so far. We really are just sort of feeling lost I suppose. I think we are really comparing that house to all the rest in our brains every time we walk into a house. 

On the bright side, we did really like a house today that we are really considering. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing and how you dealt with it. 

I'm sorry.  I just can't get past the bolded.

Xstatic3333

audubonbride2013 said:

Kristen625 said:

So H and I have been casually looking at houses for several months now. We own our own business, and we found the perfect house in Nov 2014. Only problem is, we have been hiding our profits the last few years, so on paper we look beyond dirt poor. Thankfully we talked the mortgage guy at the bank in Oct who told us what we need to do in the 2014 tax year in order to show profit so we could get pre-approved. Well during the time we saw the house, and this new year, that house sold. We weren't surprised as it was move-in ready and a GREAT price for everything. Now we are really seriously looking since January (we should have our pre-approval in about two weeks) and we have already seen 13 houses and now they are starting to blend together a bit. I look at photos online and I'm wondering if we have already seen it, or I ask myself if it is going to be just like one we saw previously. Our Realtor has been wonderful and is really understanding about what we want and are looking for, but its starting to become really frustrating! H and I are agreement on everything so far. We really are just sort of feeling lost I suppose. I think we are really comparing that house to all the rest in our brains every time we walk into a house. 

On the bright side, we did really like a house today that we are really considering. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing and how you dealt with it. 

I'm sorry.  I just can't get past the bolded.

Me neither. That's dishonest and not okay.

BlueBirdMB

Phew I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought this was shady.

I want to add that I wouldn't buy a house unit the tax situation is sorted out.  OP might be in for a large legal battle in the future.

NoneForUs

My first thought was "jail time for tax evasion" when I read the first post in this thread.